Why Zambia? SAFA slammed for bringing a ‘below our level’ Chipolopolo instead of Germany & Brazil

South Africa legend Mlungisi Ngubane, who is famously known as Professor, is unhappy with the forthcoming international friendly game against Zambia.

The South African Football Federation, SAFA, have invited Chipolopolo to play Bafana Bafana on November 14. While Hugo Broos' men have been on the ascendancy, their COSAFA neighbours have been struggling.

It explains why Ngubane insists a stronger opposition is needed, which will help Bafana Bafana improve as they prepare to play in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations and the 2026 FIFA World Cup. 

Bafana Bafana shouldn't be playing Zambia

“Are we still playing against teams like Zambia? I thought we had moved past that stage; teams like Zambia are no longer on our level, we've gone past that stage,” he said as quoted by KickOff in a recent interview.

“We should be competing against teams like Cape Verde, who qualified for the World Cup without any challenges.

“We need to schedule friendlies against countries like Morocco. We should be facing teams that have also qualified for the World Cup, just like us. Our focus should be on preparing for the World Cup, not the AFCON,” he added.

Bring on Brazil and Germany

“Otherwise, come January, we’ll have to start planning for the World Cup with less than five months to go,” Ngubane added.

“We should consistently beat teams like Zambia without difficulty in AFCON tournaments. Right now, we need to be playing friendlies against teams like Brazil and Germany, which are fellow World Cup participants like us,” he concluded.

At AFCON, Bafana Bafana have been pooled with Egypt, Angola, and Zimbabwe where the top two teams will automatically advance to the knockout phase.